Which to use
“faute” is a noun and “fautive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #874
- “faute” frequency rank
- #40,269
- “fautive” frequency rank
- 41143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faute | fautive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manquement plus ou moins grave à un devoir, à une loi, à une règle, à un usage, à une convenance. | Féminin singulier de fautif. |
Where the eye mixes faute and fautive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. faute runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against fautive's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses faute with fautive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faute is \fot\ while fautive is \fo.tiv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faute is recorded at frequency rank #874, classified as anoun, pronounced \fot\. fautive is at rank #40,269, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fo.tiv\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 41143, this pair ranks #235,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faute vs fautive
Shared letters: aeftu. Private to "faute": -. Private to "fautive": iv.
"faute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "fautive" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faute" and "fautive" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "faute" vs "fautive" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "faute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fautive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faute" and "fautive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fautive vs furtive". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #235,297 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.